Tech: a walk on the wild side

There was once a time where getting the Radio Times to check the TV listings was an essential part of the week.

No longer. Streaming and catch up TV have totally changed the way we watch the box, and watching live television is, for many people, as outdated as standing up to change the channel.

On Monday Apple announced new plans for a TV, film and news subscription service to rival Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, upon which users can access a range of on-demand TV services.

Across the globe, sales of mobile phone devices such as the iPhone – Apple’s biggest-selling product – are slowing.

For Apple, which has spent the last year neck-and-neck with Amazon and Microsoft as the most valuable business in the world, this has meant a significant slip in revenues.

So now these massive corporations are diversifying into new markets in the hope of stretching their fingers into more areas of public life.

There’s no reason Apple can’t make a success of this new venture. After all they managed to successfully move from the iPod into the phone and tablet market successfully enough.

It might cause some sleepless nights for execs at the BBC and ITV, however, after they announced their own plans for UK streaming service Britbox – especially as Disney is also putting the finishing touches to a new streaming service hosting all its own content.

This change of direction is similar to last week’s Google announcement at the Game Developers’ Conference that it was going to become the first new player in the computer gaming market since Microsoft launched the Xbox 17 years ago.

Google has already shrugged off its status as a mere search engine by entering the mobile phone market with the release of its Pixel range in 2013, but as with Apple’s iPhone quandary, the company needs to fill other gaps in the market to maintain its growth.

The idea behind Google’s system – called Stadia – is to play wherever you are and on a variety of devices – just like a TV streaming service.

That would mean no updates and no downloads. You could be on your mobile, tablet, or television – there’s no need for a physical console.

For those with a nostalgic attachment to their old Sega Megadrive cartridges and PlayStation discs, it will feel a bit like the increasing obsolescence of CDs and DVDs to music and film fans.

In theory it sounds brilliant, but in practice it comes with its complications.

For one thing your broadband connection speed is going to need to be good – really good. And in areas of the West Midlands and Shropshire that’s not always the case.

So gamers involved in a tense tussle on football game FIFA might attempt a shot as the game enters a crunch phase, only for it to fail to register because of the broadband connection, and for the moment to be gone.

But what Stadia does show is at least a potential change in direction for the market.

It’s all about diversifying and having as many fingers in as many pies as there big tech companies can imagine.

Both Amazon Prime and Facebook look set to start streaming sports – entering a market which for many years has been dominated by TV companies with financial muscle like Sky.

The big question is whether consumers have an appetite to pay for services they use but never own.

Currently, Netflix charges £7.99 a month for its standard service, and £9.99 per month for 4K content on any number of screens. Amazon and Spotify are similar – but will the same trend appeal to the legions of dedicated gamers?

Streaming has practically killed off the idea of musicians making dosh from music sales alone, which is why we have seen a huge inflation of live show ticket prices – after all the musicians need to be paid for their work somehow.

But can the gaming market adapt to this? Paying the equivalent money which is paid to musicians to game development companies is unlikely going to be enough, and these companies have few other revenue sources.

So the increasing movement of tech companies into out leisure time still comes with question marks attached – but what is clear is that the influence of these media monoliths’ presence in our lives is only going to continue to grow.